


Three things that might have happened to Chris Keller if he’d been sent to Oz instead of Lardner at seventeen

by GreenPhoenix



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 20:40:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3222713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenPhoenix/pseuds/GreenPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keller has been in Oz since he was very young; the place has left him a very damaged soul. Enter Beecher, trying to survive. They make a connection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three things that might have happened to Chris Keller if he’d been sent to Oz instead of Lardner at seventeen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dr squidlove](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dr+squidlove).



Sunshine  
1) 

Beecher looked at the dark man. He hadn’t spoken a word since they’d been here.   
Not one.  
He knew the man was called Chris Keller, and that he’d been in Oz since he was seventeen. He was fifteen years older now, and he’d not been on the outside once.  
Life had passed him by.  
All he knew was this dark, infernal place with its pungent aroma of deceit and despair.  
Beecher was new to it, and he wore his innocence like a veil that would easily rip off.  
Keller could kill him, and no one would care that much.  
Well, they’d probably mount an investigation, but all his family’s money meant squat in here.  
He was totally alone. Unless he could make a friend of this friendless freak.  
He’d start by being kind.  
*  
He tried to give Keller some new socks, but the man hissed at him.  
“I mean you no harm,” said Toby. “Your socks are falling off. These will be fine.”  
“You all seem so friendly at first, then you stab me in the back.”  
“I wont Keller, I swear.”  
“You’re a fucking lawyer. Why should I trust you?”  
“No reason. But if I fail you, you can always shank me.”  
Keller laughed.  
“Is that some reverse psychology bullshit?”  
“Could be. Got you laughing didn’t I?”  
Keller shrugged and accepted the socks.

*  
Beecher didn’t know when he stopped thinking about Keller as just a fellow inmate and a way to keep himself alive, and when he started seeing the man behind the monster he could be.  
At some point he did.  
Keller hinted at past betrayals, all from people he thought he could trust.  
Vern Schillinger had pragged him as youth, and then abandoned him, when he was older.  
Keller killed him when he could.  
That was what the prison gossip said anyway.  
*

Beecher was attacked by an Aryan, and Keller stabbed the guy almost like it was instinct.  
Beecher watched him bleed out, and felt faint.  
“I won’t tell on you,” he said and tried to sound calm.  
He didn’t either. He told no one who killed the Aryan goon.  
Keller would be his soon enough. All he had to do was wait.  
*  
Keller looked at him all the time now, with that slow-burning intensity of his.  
Could he really do things like that with a man?  
He had no idea, but there seemed to be no better choice.  
Keller was feared, and rightly so. He was barely civilized, but he didn’t need to be in here.  
All he had to do was to survive.  
That he’d done beautifully, killing all who had betrayed him.  
His lover Ronnie had tried to sell him out to the cops, and Keller had snapped his neck.  
Beecher still needed him desperately.  
*  
It was late one night; the sounds were hushed in the glass pod.  
Keller paced, like a caged animal.  
“You okay?” asked Toby.  
“No,” said Keller. “I’ll never be okay.”  
“What’s wrong?”  
“I saw hell Toby. I was burning in hell.”  
“Hell is here Chris.”  
“I know.” Better than anyone.  
“Come here,” said Toby and opened his arms. Might as well be now.  
Keller practically fell on him, and he held him closely, and whispered comforting words.  
Keller kissed him, and he felt something stir inside.  
“I love you,” said Chris. “Promise you won’t betray me.”  
“Never,” said Toby. “Never.”

*  
They sat in the warm sun, basking in its comfort. Keller hadn’t seen it in nearly twenty years.  
“So this is goodbye,” he said.  
Toby looked at the waiting cab, going to take him back to his home and safety.  
Could he bring this dangerous man there? But how could he not?  
“No,” said Toby. “I’m going home and you’re coming with me. My home is where you are.”  
Keller looked at him, and his eyes were shiny like he was holding back tears.  
“You sure?” he managed.  
“Yes, I love you Chris. You need to be with me.”  
Chris nodded and Toby lead him to the taxi, and his new home. It wouldn’t be an easy adjustment to make but it would have to work. He would get Keller an education and a lot of therapy to start with. He almost laughed at the idea of a shrink trying to resist having his or her mind turned to a pretzel by this manipulative man, but maybe it would help him too.  
He leant in and kissed Chris, and that felt good.

 

 

2) I let love in

Summary: Chris has been in Oz since he was seventeen. He trusts no one. Enter Toby.  
Warnings: NC-17 for sex and violence.

 

The new fish was talkative. They all were in the beginning. This one had an air of privilege about him, and an innocence that would rip off him like a veil.  
He still thought money could get him out of Oz.  
Well maybe it could.  
Keller shrugged and let him talk, nursery rhymes through he night, crying for his lost children and angelic wife. Poor bastard.  
Keller had no pity left, and even less innocence. He lost all that when they put him in Oz at seventeen. Schillinger saw him as fresh meat, and popped his cherry and made an honest bitch out of him. He killed Vern in the end. He’d always kill those who betrayed him.  
There had been plenty through he years. Ronnie had tried to sell him out to the cops, and he snapped the pretty neck.  
Nate Shemin had screwed others, and he poisoned him with anthrax though the mail.  
Bonnie, oh poor Bonnie. She wrote him letters, thinking him innocent of all those crimes.  
They were married, but he only got to fuck her a few times, before they banned conjugals.   
Bonnie got cancer, and married her oncologist.  
Kitty was a nun, and he seduced her to sister Pete’s chagrin.  
Kitty had an abortion, and he never saw her again.  
*  
He’d been in Oz for fifteen years when the new fish came along, with a cherry ripe for picking.  
He was a fucking lawyer.  
He tried to make deals.  
Keller shrugged him off, and he tried to offer a blowjob in exchange for protection.  
Keller agreed to that deal. It had been a long time since he had a decent blowjob.  
Beecher delivered as promised, and he came hard while watching the sweet face concentrate on the act at hand.   
He pulled Beecher to his feet, and kissed him deeply. The tongue slid against his like a dead fish, but the body trembled in his arms.   
“Fuck me,” said Beecher.  
Keller could do that, and later he did.  
*  
Beecher sweetly surrendered to him, sighing while Chris concentrated on treating him as gently as he could under the circumstances.  
All he had was some Vaseline it would have to do. He’d got it from O’Reily, who would be thrilled to know what he’d used it for. In graphic detail.  
He prepared his new…what? Bitch? Wife? Lover?  
All of the above probably.  
He fucked him against the wall, and softened mentally but stayed hard inside that warm body.  
Afterwards he even spooned him and kissed the pale neck. He felt protective, and wanted to keep feeling that way for some strange reason.  
*  
Beecher was only using him, to get a strong, muscled bodyguard in this fucking hellhole.  
But who hadn’t used him over these fifteen years?  
The well-meaning McManus had put him through college to look good in the local press.  
The fucking nun had tried to get his sorry soul to her lord.  
The priest, ah now he was a tasty little number. Same thing, he wanted to save big bad Chris for the afterlife.  
No burning in hell if you repent, said Mukada.   
Never mind that he had whacked how many people now?  
Oh, about ten.  
Last week, he had killed a fucking Aryan who tried to rape his Beecher.  
Can’t have the fucking morons touching what was rightfully his.  
Beecher could have squealed on him, but he kept his sweet mouth closed. Loyalty at last.  
He didn’t need Toby, but he was still a fucking fool for his love.  
He lost it for him like he never could for Ronnie.  
He tried to imagine life without Toby and he just couldn’t.  
Maybe this was what he’d been looking for all along?  
His heart had magically grown back, or opened because Toby had reached out for him.  
Needed him to save his life, really.  
He couldn’t resist that.  
Beecher talked of getting him parole, trying to get his case reopened. Yeah, that would work.  
Pete would hold his seduction of her little acolyte against him.  
But maybe he could fake repentance for Toby’s sake.  
Truth was, he was afraid of being on the outside among other people.  
He hadn’t seen the sun for fifteen years.  
Beecher had made him want to see it.  
He’d given up hope, but he wanted to have a shot at a real life.  
*  
At night he dreamed of a life in the suburbs with Toby.  
He told Toby about it and he smiled.  
“Let’s make it real,” he said.  
*  
He lived a life in the shadows, and now maybe he could make it into the light.  
He was still lowlife scum, but if someone loved him, maybe he still had a chance.  
He’d let love into his heart, and that would damn and save him.  
God wouldn’t have the balls to take this from him.  
Nor would the Devil.  
He’d make damn sure of it.

 

 

3) Gunpowder Eyes

Summary: I have no idea where this came from. A surreal version of the main story. Chris meets Toby and things change.  
Warnings: NC-17 for weird imagery and some violence.

 

There’s things he won’t talk about.  
Lots of things.  
Things that would make his situation better perhaps.  
But he traded his silence for more important matters.  
Like survival in this hellhole.  
No, he won’t talk about what Vern did to him when he was seventeen. Nor what his father did when he was even younger.  
Being silent about his father bought him cigarettes and unlimited time on the streets.  
No curfew, he could do what he wanted.  
That’s how he fell in with the wrong crowd, and wound up in good old Oswald.  
That’s why he keeps quiet for Vern.  
For protection.  
He doesn’t give a shit about racial purity; he’s fucked men and women of all colors. In here it’s not so different from the street.  
Be friendly with the top dog and keep your head down.  
Thing is, Keller likes attention, always did.  
He likes being the one everyone looks at.  
His Aryan buddies think he’s fucking crazy.  
The first night he wound up having to kill a homeboy to protect himself. That added a few years to his sentence.  
Vern likes having a nice little lapdog, and Keller plays at being one.  
He never met a lie he couldn’t sell.  
Make Vern think he’s into the fucking master race if it keeps him alive.

*  
He’s done being Vern’s little protégé. It cost a lot of blood, but he’s his own man now.  
He killed a few Aryans, and got himself a killer groupie. Well, sort of.  
Bonnie wrote him letters saying she believed in his innocence.  
He married her so he could fuck her, and then they banned conjugals.  
Fucking McManus.  
*  
He has his own bitch now.  
Well, maybe not strictly speaking a bitch.  
More like a fucking difficult weirdo nutjob who rhymes and stabs people if they’re not careful.  
But he gives great head, if he doesn’t feel like biting your dick off.  
Fucking Beecher.  
He doesn’t love him. He’s difficult and brilliant and quiet and crazy all at once.  
He loves him. He’s got the best ass in this fucking place, and the sweetest mouth he’s ever kissed.  
Fucking Vern wants him, but Keller had one coming and he took him.  
Keller’s head spins when he tries to imagine life without Beecher.  
He can’t. Fucking lawyer cunt.  
There’s nobody else that’s ever made him this fucking obsessed or horny or depressed.  
He has gunpowder eyes and poisonous breath.  
*  
Keller knows when to keep quiet and when not to.  
Love is not to be shouted from the rooftops, but he doesn’t care.  
Let them all know who he loves; maybe they’ll let him have him to himself that way.  
There’s no stamp on that ass saying “property of Keller” but there should be.  
*  
He shanks Vern when nobody sees.  
This way he’ll have Toby to himself at last.  
Vern bleeds out and he feels empty at first.  
There are no choruses of angels.  
Keller comes when he sees Vern die, spluttering blood.  
He comes even harder inside Toby later that night, howling with the pleasure of it.  
Beecher’s orgasm mirrors his own, just as loudly.  
Yeah, fucking hacks take them to the hole for it.  
Keller can’t keep his love quiet.  
There’s other things he’ll never speak of.  
But they don’t really matter anymore.  
His love for Toby will always lead him home.  
Home is wherever Toby is. 

 

Vaguely inspired by this song by Neko Case “Prison Girls”.

Where am I tonight? La, da, da   
My hotel room won't remember me   
And this dream will die, die by morning   
And this dream won't remember me 

Awakened by a droning voice   
I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes   
Is it a lady or is it a man   
Humming helicopters through the blades of a fan 

I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes   
I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes 

On my feet to chase it down   
The lights were spokes and rungs away   
I stumbled back and hit the floor   
Long shadows crawl beneath the door   
To a passage so poorly lit   
There's moths flying away from it 

Who am I tonight? La, da, da   
My hotel room won't remember me   
Darkness enter prison girls   
Pushing mops and kicking pails   
Now's my chance   
I clasp my chest   
And declare unto my audience   
I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes   
I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes 

Prison girls are not impressed   
They're the ones that have to clean this mess   
They've traded more for cigarettes   
Than I've managed to express 

Filing past miles long   
The cheek is frozen to the floor   
The prison girls have filled their beds   
Their thoughts too dry above their heads 

I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this 2014 Oz magi wish:  
> Pairing/Character(s): Any combination of Beecher, Keller and/or Vern.  
> Keyword/Prompt Phrase: Instead of Lardner, 17yo Chris Keller lands up in Em City.  
> Canon/AU/Either: AU seems inevitable.  
> Special Requests: I don't mind if you go dark places. But you don't have to.  
> Story/Art/Either: Story, please.


End file.
